The new clean energy initiative at the botanical garden came to fruition thanks to the combined efforts of Microgrid Energy, a solar contractor focusing its attention on the American Midwest’s fast-growing renewable energy sector, and corporate sponsor Express Scripts.
“Completing this project for the Missouri Botanical Garden really means a lot to us,” said Microgrid Energy CEO Rick Hunter.
“The Garden has always been an advocate for clean energy, understanding its direct impact on the plant conservation,” Hunter said. “We are proud to be able to help the Garden in its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint further, and at the same time to offer a publicly accessible solar project that can help demonstrate the feasibility and importance of renewable energy.”
The collaboration with Express Scripts enabled project managers to tap into additional a rich vein of additional incentives. The solar industry in Missouri and Illinois is currently experiencing a surge, due to new incentives and steadily rising electric costs, the company said.
The new solar array consists of 110 solar panels and is mounted on an approximately 3,000-square-foot area on the rooftop of the Garden’s Commerce Bank Centre for Science Education (CBEC). It is expected to produce an estimated 32,000-kilowatt hours of energy annually.
The power created by this system is equivalent to the energy needed to power four to six homes.
Over its 30-year lifetime, the system is estimated to produce 870,000-kilowatt hours of energy and displace 800 tons of carbon dioxide. In other environmental terms, the savings in emissions is on par with eliminating 2,500 gallons of gasoline burned in cars per year, or preserving 29 acres of hardwood forest.
In addition, a touch-screen monitoring station in the CBEC lobby offers an opportunity for the visitors to learn more about solar power, including viewing the real-time power production of the solar panels and the daily energy harnessed.
Visitors can also measure the array’s power production tallies for the current week, month, and its lifetime to-date.
“Not only are we helping provide clean, solar energy to power the building for today, but with the addition of this great educational component, we hope people will be inspired to think about how they can address the energy challenges of the future,” Hunter said.
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